I Travelled to Get Unstuck

From January to August this year I lived on the road with my 13 year old daughter. We travelled around the east coast of Australia, as far south-west as Discovery Bay in Victoria and as far north as Port Douglas in Queensland. I drove around 12,000km as we moved from one Airbnb to another, or stayed with friends.

Our trip ended a month ago and we’re settling into our new city – Brisbane.

I’m currently writing my September newsletter, and want to reflect on what I’ve learned about my work in the introduction. I was having trouble getting started writing this piece yesterday so turned to ‘travel quotes’ on Pinterest for inspiration. Thanks to the Bohemian Bowmans blog I came across a quote that perfectly captured why I travelled.

While my imagination and capacity for enthusiasm hadn’t completely eroded, this quote got me started with my opening paragraph:

I embarked on an extended road trip because I felt stuck. I lived in a busy, expensive city. I worked hard on consulting projects to pay the rent. I rarely socialised. I was struggling to support my child contend with an alienating school environment. I felt my choices, freedom and vitality being stripped away from me. I travelled to get unstuck.

You’ll have to wait for (or sign up for) my newsletter for the rest of the article.

Spoiler alert – yes, I did get unstuck. The extended period on the road has opened up new ways of working and new opportunities. I’m currently in that ‘in-between’ stage, the ‘unfrozen’ stage, where I’m exploring possibilities and alternatives for how I want to work and reshaping my business model. My mindset is open and expansive, and I’m excited about the options I’m exploring. (More on this in upcoming Daily Dispatches.)

You’re right – it is a form of uncluttering. It has also felt like a very responsible course of action in my circumstances. I was fortunate to have family support with this choice.

The trick with feeling we can do everything is to pick something. At some point choices need to be narrowed down and action taken. It’s like the funnel opens up to let more choices in and then there is a filtering. I’m somewhere between inviting more choices in and doing the filtering (it’s probably an iterative process). It’s quite an exciting period.